Nutrition Fact or Fiction

Nutrition Fact or Fiction

Share this

Diet Myths #17

KETONE BODY DIET Doesn't Work!! Also called a Ketogenic diet, it depends on fatty acids being released from the fat to form ketones in the liver. These ketones are a major energy source during starvation, but their formation is inhibited by just 100 grams of carbohydrate per day. In this diet, you eat only 5% carbohydrates and 75% fat with only 20% protein. It was proposed that the ketones would control hunger, but that is not true. You eat high fat proteins like bacon together with butter and mayonnaise. This diet has been shown to have some effects in epilepsy but this is not true for all patients with this condition. People on the diet can check their urine with a dipstick designed for diabetes, which measures ketones. As long as it turns blue, the dieter has not cheated. This self-monitoring may help some people stay on the diet, but this diet has too little protein and will give the breath a fruity smell because the ketones come out of the body in the breath as well as the urine. There is a better way. Protein shakes, balanced nutrition, and a healthy active lifestyle with daily exercise is a healthy way to lose excess body fat and keep it off for the body you want.

Diet Myths #16

APPLE CIDER VINEGAR is a popular digestive remedy but does not cause weight loss. It has acetic acid, which can cause heartburn so for weight loss it is recommended that you take two teaspoons in water with each meal. Of course, if you drink a glass of water before each meal that may cause some weight loss just by organizing your eating, but apple cider vinegar does not cause weight loss. Studies at Arizona State University showed that in people at risk for diabetes (called pre-diabetic because they have high blood sugar), acetic reduced the rise in blood sugar after eating a starchy meal a little bit as shown in the figure above.. This did not happen in normal people with a good reserve of insulin or in people with diabetes who had low insulin. To see the effect, you needed to be pre-diabetic when both insulin and glucose are high and blood glucose responds to absorption of sugar from the intestines. It turns out acetic acid found in apple cider vinegar inhibits an enzyme that breaks down starch called beta-glucosidase. Vinegar tastes good with cucumbers, but do not count on it for weight loss.

Diet Myths #15

THE MOON DIET is a crazy diet where you fast completely when there is a full moon. Then as the moon goes through its phases during the month, you increase your food intake gradually and the decrease it again as you approach the new moon. This diet has no nutritional principles other than restricting calories. You have to follow a calendar or go outside at night to check the phase of the moon. You have as much chance of losing weight on this diet as you have of seeing Dracula or the cow jumping over the moon.

Diet Myths #14

SEA BUCKTHORN OIL or Omega-7 Oil does not cause weight loss. Sea Buckthorn berries grown mostly in Mongolia, Russia and China on bushes and not in the sea have a fatty acid in the fruit flesh called palmitoleic acid. This is an omega-7 fatty acid which has 16 carbons and one double bond. It is not something magical just a different chemical structure from omega-3 in fish oils, omega-6 in many vegetable oils, and omega-9 in olive oil, avocados, and nuts. Sea Buckthorn fruit oil is the richest source but Macadamia nuts also have this fatty acid. Since the fruit is orange, it also has some beta-carotene and it has some vitamin E. Fruits in all the color groups have many compounds not just one. The Sea Buckthorn seed oil is also sold but only has omega-3, 6, and 9 fatty acids. Fed to mice on a high fat diet, the fruit extract including the oil inhibited weight as do lots of fruit extracts. When tested in humans, there was no significant weight loss. A tiny decrease in waist circumference was noted and bilberry famous for its effects on might vision in fighter pilots in World War II did even better. The lesson here is: don't buy something for weight loss just because you never heard of it before. There is something proven to work - Protein-Rich Shakes, Healthy Active Lifestyle, and Balanced Nutrition!!

Diet Myths #13

THE EGG DIET doesn't work!! Eggs are a good food and eating eggs as part of a balanced diet will not raise your cholesterol. On the other hand, eating an egg by itself will leave you hungry. One egg has only 6 grams of protein in the egg white which is a very good protein. The egg yellow has lutein, which makes it yellow and is the same Phytonutrient found in spinach and avocado where it is green in color. The egg yellow has fat and the type of fat depends on what the chicken ate. There are omega-3 rich eggs which come from chickens fed omega-3 in their diet. A hard boiled egg with the yellow removed is fat-free. You can have 3 to 4 egg whites for protein and one egg yellow for taste as one high protein meal but the idea that eating eggs all day will help you lose weight is wrong. Eat a balanced diet, protein shakes, and exercise daily as part of a healthy active lifestyle for successful weight management. There is nothing magical about eggs for weight loss!!

Diet Myths #12

COCONUT DIET doesn't cause weight loss. The idea came up because coconut has an oil made up of more than half its fats with 8 to 12 carbons. These fats enter the energy factories of the cells in your body more easily than other fats like corn oil which have fatty acids with 16 or more carbons. The idea was that more fat would be burned than stored compared to other fats. Studies failed to show a benefit for weight loss except for one small study in Brazil which compared coconut oil to corn oil. Saturated fats are not as well absorbed as corn oil so this was not a fair comparison. Saturated fats contribute to atherosclerosis and in studies in rabbits the late Dr. David Kritchevsky found that coconut oil caused the greatest inflammation and plaque growth of any fat he tested. The American Heart Association, the FDA, the WHO, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services all recommend against coconut oil due to increased risk of heart disease. You can still enjoy whole coconut flesh since it is only 10% fat and 280 Calories per cup. Coconut won't help you lose weight, but a coconut water makes a great drink and you can put an umbrella on top!

Diet Myths #11

GRAPEFRUIT DIET is another quick weight loss diet. It is another low calorie, low carbohydrate diet with the added feature that you eat grapefruit three times a day and separate protein from carbohydrates by at least four hours. This diet is based on the false idea that grapefruit has a protein that can break down fat. As with other quick weight loss diets, you will lose muscle and fat and then regain weight when you go back to your usual eating habits. The grapefruit as a citrus fruit has vitamin C and antioxidants called citrus flavonoids. Grapefruit and especially grapefruit juice affect the normal metabolism of statin drugs commonly used to lower cholesterol. About 10 to 20% of people taking this drug get muscle pain. This side effect can result from high levels of drug in the blood. Doctors recommend that people on statins avoid grapefruit completely. In fact, you would have to drink double strength grapefruit juice for three days to see this effect. So unless you are on a cholesterol-lowering drug, enjoy eating grapefruit, but don't count on it causing weight loss!!!

Diet Myths #10

SOUP DIETS don't work but sound good. The first and most famous version of this diet was The Cabbage Soup Diet where you have the soup three times a day. The idea is that the soup will be filling and you will eat fewer calories. Just as in the Juice Diets, you will lose weight temporarily from muscle and fat. You will also lose water and salt which weighs 1 kilogram or about 2 pounds per liter or quart. Water loss accounts for some of the large short term weight losses claimed in the first week of these plans. Of course, you will put the weight back when you go back to eating. Add two scoops of protein powder to your soup and you will have a more filling soup that helps you reach your daily protein goal. While soups are comforting, they should only be part of your balanced nutrition and healthy active lifestyle weight management program.

Diet Myths #9

JUICE CLEANSING DIETS don't work for weight loss because they lack protein. I am a big fan of Colorful fruits and vegetables which have between 50 and 70 Calories per 100 gram portion, but juices concentrate the sugar and eliminate fiber so a glass of orange juice has 240 Calories. By drinking juices all day, you use sugar to control hunger. The calories over the whole day are very low, and sometimes these diets are called juice fasts or even the Hollywood diet as some actors use them to lose weight temporarily. The problem is that the weight you lose will be half from your body protein and muscle and half from body fat, since the diet does not have the protein you need to maintain your muscle. The sugar in the juices promotes fat gain. Fruit juices have antioxidant Phytonutrients and feed healthy bacteria in your gut as was demonstrated in recent research on juice fasts at the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. The solution for getting weight loss and the benefits of fruit juices for their antioxidant and microbiome benefits is simple. Just add juices to a protein shake twice a day along with a balanced diet and a healthy active lifestyle!

Diet Myths #8

RAW FOODS DIETS have strictly uncooked, unprocessed foods that have not been heated to more than 118 degrees Fahrenheit or 45 degrees Centigrade including fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Some also eat raw eggs, unpasteurized milk, raw meat, and raw fish. Cooking some vegetables like spinach, tomatoes, and carrots make the Phytonutrients they contain such as lutein, lycopene, and beta carotene more available to the body. There are health risks of eating raw eggs including depletion of the B vitamin, biotin, by a protein called avidin in raw eggs and an increased risk of salmonella infections. Raw fish and meats can cause parasite infections such as tapeworm. Unpasteurized milk can cause intestinal tuberculosis. A cookout site by the sea was discovered in South Africa that was over 250,000 years. So we have been cooking foods for a long time and there is no reason to stop now. While there is no evidence this diet can help you lose weight, you are likely to eat a lot less food if it is all raw!!

Diet Myths #7

MEDITERRANEAN DIET is not the real thing and will not help you with weight management. The idea is that this diet was developed based on the foods eaten in Ancient Greece. However, many of the foods recommended in the modern version of this diet were never available in Ancient Greece. There are lots of good things about this diet like eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, nuts, and whole grains. They recommend using more spices and less salt. Most famously, they recommend using olive oil instead of butter. However, with no advice to limit the amount of olive oil which has about 140 Calories per tablespoon, this advice can sabotage your weight loss plan. Many people just add olive oil to their diet and think they are on a Mediterranean Diet. Since the diet limits red meat and emphasizes poultry and fish as well as occasional red wine, there are many different studies on this diet suggesting promotion of heart health. However, there is no evidence that this diet helps with weight loss at all. There is no emphasis on plant-based proteins like soy or taking in adequate protein to control hunger or build muscle. So you can follow this general wellness eating plan that sounds as nice and relaxing by the sea, but you won't lose weight unless you do the basics of protein shakes in a plan that includes aerobic and resistance exercise. So while this diet has a lot of good aspects as far as weight loss is concerned, it is a myth!!

Diet Myths #6

ALKALINE DIETS and WATER don't affect your body for health, exercise, or weight loss. The acidity of foods and water is measured by the pH (short for potential of hydrogen). The pH scale runs from 0 to 14. The mouth pH is slightly acidic at pH 6.5. The most acidic fluid in the body is the stomach acid which is activated by food to pH 3.5 which helps digestion. The intestinal fluid is pH 8 which is alkaline and neutralizes the stomach acid so that the small intestine does its work. The blood stays at a neutral pH of about 7.4 (7.35 to 7.45) throughout the day regardless of what you eat. If you generate more acid as you do during exercise your body gets rid of it rapidly through the lungs. You breathe out carbon dioxide which is one reason for deep breathing when you exercise. The lungs are the major way the blood stays neutral pH, but a second way is that the kidneys put ammonia out in the urine. Pure water is pH 7 and so called alkaline water has added minerals to increase the pH to 8 or 9. Artesian water which is from wells naturally is pH 8. These waters don't change your blood pH. Don't worry about acid and alkaline foods and don't waste money on artificial alkaline water.

Diet Myths #5

LOW FAT DIETS Reducing fat too much makes foods lose their taste. Fat helps taste and keeps the heat in cooked foods. Lowering the fat in the diet to a range between 25 and 30 percent of calories makes sense since fat has 9 Calories per gram while carbohydrate and protein have only 4 Calories per gram. The idea that low fat foods do not help with weight loss is the result of the food industry adding back sugar to make up for the taste lost by reducing fat. There are cookies which are indicated fat-free but have the same number of calories as a regular cookie. So when you look at a non-fat version of a food, check the total calories per portion and added sugar. Healthy fats include olive oil and avocado oil. Avoid processed snack foods with lots of hidden fat like potato chips, cakes, and pastries. When talking about fat, you also have to look at carbohydrate foods with hidden fat. So there are good and bad fats and good and bad carbs. The bad carbs are the ones with hidden fats!

Diet Myths #4

FOOD COMBINING DIETS claim that you cannot digest certain combinations of foods. For example, they recommend not eating proteins and carbohydrates in the same meal. These combination ideas are nonsense as the human intestine can digest most foods and what you don't digest is broken down by the 14 trillion bacteria in your colon. The idea that certain foods are better digested together has been written down since the Middle Ages by physicians before the process of digestion was understood. These diets are often advertised together with approaches to irritable bowel syndrome or common intestinal complaints such as gas or bloating. The diets can lead to the elimination of foods from the diet as the idea of bad combinations grows. As the diet gets more rigid, some people lose weight temporarily or improve their intestinal symptoms creating more believers. Create your diet plan using the right amount of protein from shakes and low fat meat or fish, Colorful fruits and vegetables, limited refined carbohydrates and sugary foods and remember to get 25 grams of fiber from foods and supplements. Walking after meals and having a healthy active lifestyle will help you digest your foods and you won't need to worry about food combining.

Diet Myths #3

BLOOD TYPE DIET Blood types have nothing to do with diets. Blood types evolved 20 million years ago but were discovered in 1900 when Dr. Landsteiner discovered that blood cells from some people in his lab stuck together while others did not. He named the blood types A, B and C (later changed to O). The AB group was discovered later and he won the Nobel Prize in 1930 for his contribution to blood transfusion but it had nothing to do with diet. For example, if you have blood type O it is claimed you are more efficient at converting carbs to fat. This idea has been totally debunked. Why was this popular? It was the first attempt at a personalized diet based on genetic differences between individuals. Today we are looking at these differences using genetic methods not available when this diet came out that actually relate to nutrition and metabolism. However, blood types have nothing to do with diet or weight loss and everything to do with blood transfusion.

Diet Myths #2

ZERO CARB DIET ask you to stop eating all carbohydrates and having a lot of fat from meats, cheeses, eggs, and bacon. This may fill you up but it is not a balanced diet. All carbohydrates are not the same. It makes sense to eliminate cakes, cookies, pastries, and candy, but fruits and vegetables have good carbohydrates with fiber, antioxidants, and water. There are some low carbohydrate diets which make sense but increasing fat at the expense of fruits and vegetables is a mistake. Eat seven servings a day of fruits and vegetables and get your protein from protein-enriched shakes and lean meats like chicken and turkey white meat or firm tofu. Limit refined carbohydrates and have some whole grains. Zero carbs will leave you with the same carb cravings and you will ultimately regain your weight by adding the carbs to the high fat. Zero Carb Diets are an impossible myth and they don't work!!

Diet Myths #1

THE PALEO DIET suggests eating like a caveman. Cavemen did not live past 30 on average, and they did not eat modern day red meats which are full of extra fat calories. A better way to get your protein is with protein-enriched shakes. Many of the Colorful fruits and vegetables we eat today did not exist in the ancient diet. Avocados, potatoes, tomatoes, and many spices were discovered in 1500 A.D. in the Americas and Mexico. While some of the advice is reasonable such as as reducing refined carbohydrates, sugars, and processed oils, there is nothing unique here. The overall framework is a diet myth.